Hello There, Guest! (LoginRegister)

Thread Closed 
C-J/How do you explain Cards' loss to Bull
Author Message
Maize Offline
Hall of Famer
*

Posts: 21,340
Joined: Mar 2004
Reputation: 555
I Root For: Athletes First
Location:
Post: #1
 
Sunday, October 9, 2005

Rick Bozich
How do you explain Cards' loss to Bulls?


Louisville thundered over, around and through North Carolina, 69-14, yesterday at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. But this is a morning to talk about two bizarre college football scores, not just one.

You know precisely what I'm talking about. How did a Louisville team that thundered over Carolina (No. 29 in the Sagarin computer ratings) by 55 points lose to South Florida 45-14 two weeks ago?

I'm not the only one asking that question this morning. You're not the only ones who were debating it yesterday during a game that was over 10 minutes into the second quarter.

It was the kind of dazzling performance that should score points with the pollsters and computers. It was the kind of win that makes you look forward to West Virginia on Saturday -- and backward to that one game that Louisville will be scrubbing from everybody's memory all season.

It also was a topic being chewed on in the North Carolina locker room.

"That team could play with anybody in the ACC," North Carolina halfback Ronnie McGill said.

But Virginia Tech, Florida State and Miami -- three top-10 teams -- play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Ronnie.

"So," McGill said. "They scored points like it was a video game."

ACC worthy
"I said before the season that Louisville would be one of the top two teams we played this season," said UNC quarterback Matt Baker.

But, Matt, Carolina came to town with a schedule Sagarin ranked the second-toughest in the country, and the Tar Heels have games remaining with Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech.

Said Baker, "They're still one of the two best teams on our schedule."

As strangely awful as the Cardinals were against South Florida, they were just as shockingly overwhelming against a North Carolina team that still expects to deliver a winning season.

U of L quarterback Brian Brohm looked as if he were in the backyard passing to brothers Jeff and Greg. Eight Cardinals caught passes, four for touchdowns. Michael Bush scored twice on runs, but redshirt freshman George Stripling was U of L's leading rusher.

Everybody scored
The only reason the offense didn't score more was that the defense scored a pair of touchdowns. And scoring is the only thing defensive end Elvis Dumervil failed to do. Seven tackles, four for losses. Three sacks. Two forced fumbles. And an interception.

"He's real good," McGill said. "You can't cut him. You can't block him. You can't run away from him. You can't run through him."

"I was looking at that scoreboard all night," Tar Heels coach John Bunting said. "You could almost get mesmerized with that scoreboard with the fireworks. I thought at one point maybe they would run out of fireworks."

Didn't happen.

This was Thunder Over the University of Louisville. This is the second consecutive year Louisville has twisted Carolina into the ultimate "Get Well" card, a double-shot of cappuccino for the football soul.

Too bad the series ended with this game. If I'm U of L athletic director Tom Jurich, I'm inviting UNC athletic director Dick Baddour to sign a series extension. Ten years sounds like a good number. Sorry, Jurich told me. Carolina isn't interested. No mas.

So now the Cards must take their quest to persuade the pollsters to toss the South Florida game to Morgantown, W.Va., on Saturday.

West Virginia is the place where Howard Schnellenberger's Fiesta Bowl Cardinals proved they were a formidable team 15 years ago. The winner of the game figures to be identified as the best team in the Big East.

As long as people forget that strange score from South Florida.

You can reach Rick Bozich at (502) 582-4650 or rbozich@courier-journal.com. Submit questions at courier-journal.com/bozich.

<a href='http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051009/COLUMNISTS01/510090521/1002' target='_blank'>Louisville Courier Journal/How do you explain UofL loss to USF</a>
10-09-2005 08:15 AM
Find all posts by this user
Advertisement


Thread Closed 




User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


Copyright © 2002-2024 Collegiate Sports Nation Bulletin Board System (CSNbbs), All Rights Reserved.
CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.
This site monetizes links. FTC Disclosure.
We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org.
Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 MyBB Group.